What can get you kicked out of Congress

On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., was escorted off the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives for wearing breaking House rules by wearing a hoodie while the body was in session. But even though he broke the rules, Rep. Rush did the right thing.

Rep. Rush was trying to show his support for the family of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old who was shot last month by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch official. Martin’s death has sparked a nationwide outrage at what appears to be a case of racial profiling.

The main part of the debate surrounding Rush’s speech has been whether he should have been kicked off the House floor for wearing a hooded sweatshirt in a demonstration of support. Surprisingly, the answer is very simple: he absolutely should have been. House rules clearly state that you cannot wear a hat or hood in the chamber as a sign of respect. It’s a stupid rule, but I’m not the one who gets to decide (probably for good reason).

But Rep. Rush knew exactly what he was doing when he decided to wear a hood on the House floor and quote the Bible in an attempt to offer his condolences to both Trayvon’s family and his soul. I have no doubt that Rep. Rush was very aware of what he was doing when he wore a hoodie under his suit jacket.

Even if he technically broke the rules, he definitely did the right thing. Congress has been called on several times to ask for a federal investigation into the Trayvon Martin case (his parents testified in Washington last week). What Rep. Rush did was make the issue much more personal and blunt.

It is easy not to worry about the case of a shooting in Florida, especially when you are tasked with running the day-to-day operations of a country as large as the United States. But this (indeed any) case that results in the death of a young person deserves national attention.

What Rep. Rush did was bring Trayvon Martin’s death to the House floor and make everyone take notice, showing his solidarity, his rage and his sadness at what happened to Trayvon Martin, and what happens to thousands of young people around the country every year.

Rep. Rush absolutely broke the rules. But sometimes, silly rules are meant to be broken in order to expose a greater problem or a greater truth. By being kicked out of the House chamber, he continued the national discussion on the Trayvon Martin case, and showed demonstrators that they have powerful allies and friends who are willing to break the rules in order to make their messages heard.

Rep. Rush did the right thing. He knew what was going to happen when he took to the floor and knew that the Sergeant-at-Arms was going to be asked to escort him out. But by breaking the rules he showed his solidarity, and made the Trayvon Martin case much more personal to Congress, calling on them to do something more, calling on them to do more than just sit on the sidelines. Rep. Rush performed admirably and forevermore I will admire him as a politician, for willingly breaking the rules in order to tell truth to power.

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